


A slow bake romance

by Marauderofworlds



Category: Guns N' Roses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, these guys are dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27022174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marauderofworlds/pseuds/Marauderofworlds
Summary: Duff works at a bakery in LA with his two friends, Slash and Steven, while they search for a singer. A guy named Izzy visits regularly. But theres more to it then Duff realises.
Relationships: Axl Rose/Slash | Saul Hudson, Duff McKagan/Izzy Stradlin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 19





	A slow bake romance

For all intents and purposes, it was pretty much a normal day. It was a Thursday, Duff and Slash we're chugging along, making pastry after pastry. With Steven only getting slightly distracted. Duff couldn’t blame him, jobs were mediocre, hard driven and very much repetitive in the worst way. Baking all day sucked ass!  People were coming in and out of the store more frequently than normal, not to mention it was Duff’s turn to change the coffee grounds, for the fourth time this day. Tables were wiped down, hands washed frequently and the telephone was answered for customers. 

Yup, thought Duff, hands smelling of cold coffee. ‘ Same old shit.’

Duff absentmindedly threw out the soggy grounds, wiping his hands on his apron, listening for the timer to ring soon. Slash was busy making more icing, Steven was... What was Steven doing?

“Steven stop flirting with the customers, that dough isn't gonna knead itself!” Duff heard Slash's voice from the kitchen.

Worn sneakers squeaked all the way back to the kitchen, Steven dragging his feet the entire way from the seating area near the front window of the bakery.

Duff rolled his eyes, and kept scooping the new grounds into the coffee machine, not even bothering to watch Steven do his sad, huffy march. It would just bum him out.

Thank god for Slash. You wouldn’t take him for the responsible type, with his lazy smile and easy going candour. But this baking job was the boat that kept them all afloat. That is, until they made it big. 

The three of them wanted to make music and be rockstars, and they would! …But you couldn’t be a band without a singer, and that’s what they sorely needed.

Closing the lid of the machine, Duff placed the bag of coffee grounds back on the nearby stained shelf, and went back behind the counter. Glancing about, Duff took in the entire bakery, watching for any incoming customers. 

The bakery was warmly lit, bookshelves, carpets and potted plants were tastefully placed where they needed to be. There were armchairs and plenty of side tables for placing sweets and cups of coffee.

The front area for seating truly took up most of the bakery. The front counter, squished between two glass display cases, was clean, besides for a couple coffee stains and scratches that refused to budge, and also held the ancient cash register.

Beside the left display case was a swinging door, which went right through to the kitchen.

If someone asked Duff to describe the kitchen? Cramped. Even for three damn people.It definitely didn’t help that Duff was taller than most, If you didn’t watch your head in certain places, bumps and bruises were inevitable. Take it from him. 

But besides being smaller than most bakery kitchens, it was a basic kitchen.

Sacks of flour were everywhere, boxes of this and that were stacked precariously, alongside towering dirty bowls and baking utensils. It was a mess.

And don’t get Duff wrong, the three workers cleaned often enough, it just sometimes felt as if the mess built up faster than the three of them could possibly clean it.

A quick look around, Duff was able to take in what needed to be done. Call it a special talent. A new batch of cupcakes needed to be deposited in the display case, as well as another batch for a customer. 

Slash was supposed to be icing them, but Duff wasn’t doing anything, might well pitch in. He needed to keep an ear out for that timer, though, it was for three birthday cakes, and Steven might want help with kneading the bread dough. Easy shit.

Starting with the easiest, Duff grabbed a tray full of cupcakes off a nearby table, finished cooling off. Grabbing a metal bowl full of freshly made icing from Slash, Duff sat down on a stool and began his work. Going through the motions of prepping a piping bag as so on.

Separating the icing into two bowls, A little food dye, and one bowl of icing was a lovely sunset orange, while the other was a pretty teal, just like the customer asked.

Decoration wasn’t his strong suit, more so Slash’s, but moving an icing tip a certain way wasn’t hard.

With quick, efficient movements, a pretty orange flower bloomed from his efforts. Soon the table held a baker's dozen, ready to be proudly displayed. An edible bouquet, Duff joked with himself.

The second batch took a bit longer, the customer specified the flowers should look like a tiny patch of wildflowers on each cupcake. Duff couldn’t help but grumble at how intricate he had to be, did this fucker think this dumpy store was a professional bakery?

Hopefully they’d actually come at 5pm and pick up their damn cupcakes, Duff had seen people pay for cupcakes, leave, and never come to pick up their order. It was really weird.

Soon, there was a box full of delicate decorated cupcakes ready to be picked up. The box was promptly wrapped by Duff, with a damn bow and everything, with the works. The box was put aside, away from sharp elbows and heavy objects.

Duff stepped over to the display case, sliding the backing opening, fiddling with it until it was wide enough for the tray inside to come out. There were still some cupcakes left, but Duff could box those up for Slash, Steven and himself for an end of the day treat. Literally no one would stop them.

The manager and owner of the establishment they currently worked at was always away. Always. It was either vacation, sick leave, or some other trivial shit that kept the owner, Kim, from her responsibilities. Yet she still paid the bills, and her three employees, amazingly.

Duff learned to keep his head down and not ask stupid questions.

The cupcakes were deposited into the display case, carefully arranged, and they looked pretty damn good if he did say so himself. Now, onto the next task.

“ Stevie! Do you need any help with that dough?” he heard a loud, metallic clang of a bowl hitting the tile flooring, and Duff had his answer. He rolled his sleeves up, sighing.

\--

Duff heard the timer ringing throughout the kitchen, which probably startled a couple seated customers from their chatter.

“Ah, shit....” Duff wiped his hands hastily on his apron, and hurried over to the oven.

“Duff, it’s not like the cakes are going to burst into flames.” Slash said, looking up from the cake batter he was mixing, grinning at Duffs panic.

If Duff's hands weren’t ass deep in oven mitts and holding a scorching hot cake pan, He’d flip his friend off. So all he could do was stick out his tongue like a child.

All Slash did was laugh like a motherfucker. Fucker.

At that moment, the bell on top of the entrance started jingling, indicating a customer. Duff placed the cake pan on a random tray with the two other cakes, discarding the mitts along with it, and power walking to the front counter, nearly tripping on the crack in the checkered flooring. Duff put on his best smile and straightened his back, opened his mouth and got a good look at the customer-

And all his breath was sucked out of his lungs.

Oh. Oh god. Was it that time of the week already?

Apparently, Duff, in the midst of his hurrying around, picking up the slack from his friends, forgot about the regular that came by once a week.

That regular's name was Izzy Stradlin. The most attractive looking guy he’d ever seen in LA, bar none.

The person you’d least expect to like sweet confections. Yet here he was, here to make Duff a sweaty, nervous wreck. Recovering from his “mild” surprise, he shook off the fluttering in his belly and smiled brightly.

“ Hey there! What can I get for you?” Duff sternly thought to himself, don’t look at anything but his face, not his handsome jawline, or gorgeous long neck or….

Focus Duff.

Stradlin had been coming to this bakery every week, for several months. And Duff had no goddamn idea why. Duff knew of quite a few other bakeries in the area that were probably better, but here he was, showing up, asking for this and that, having a bit of small talk, and leaving without a noise, besides the jingling of the front door.

Izzy was an odd one. Duff had heard his name around the street, through the rocker scene, but honestly hadn’t met him until he had gotten a job at this bakery.

Speaking of Izzy, he was quietly looking at the display case, which held cupcakes, donuts, bagels, and plenty other confections. Izzy shifted his weight, and turned to look back at Duff. Duff ignored the fluttering in his stomach, and kept on smiling politely.

“ I’ll take three of those cupcakes, and a cup of coffee. To go, If you could, please.” The man tucked a bit of raven black hair behind a pierced ear, tapping his fingers against the scratched surface of the front counter.

Nodding, Duff leaned over and grabbed a plain coffee cup from the stack. The display cases on either side of him had small compartments underneath them, meaning extra napkins, straws and, of course, coffee cups, could be easily stuffed in them, as to not further crowd the kitchen. The workers needed all the space they could get.

Passing a lid and the cup over Stradlin, Duff slid open the backing of the display case and reaching in with a pair of tongs, one by one, retrieved the sweets.

The display case was truly a godsend, whoever thought up having a hidden pull out board between the glass display case and the compartments was a genius.

It meant Duff didn’t have to juggle a whole shit ton of cupcakes to the nearest counter, it truly made boxing things up ten times easier.

Just an arms length away, Duff grabbed a folded up carryout box, just for cupcakes. It took him a quick flick of the wrist for the box to take shape. 

One, two, three cupcakes placed in the cheery pale blue box, and neatly folded shut with no problems.

Making sure the cupcakes wouldn't tumble over in the box during transport, Duff snatched a nearby plastic bag with the bakeries logo printed on it, and easily deposited the blue box in it.

If anyone ever said Duff wasn’t a hard worker, he’d fucking clock them.

Swiping his bleach blond hair away from his eyes, Duff turned his attention back on the regular.

While Duff was doing his thing, Izzy had sauntered off to the coffee machine, placed against the right wall of the bakery. The regular was taking his time, in the way he only could. A methodical type, Izzy was, and Duff appreciated that deeply. They could talk endlessly, or say nothing, and still he could get something out of it. 

No, Duff wasn’t watching Izzy's legs shift attractively in those tight jeans, or how he pulled on the switch of the 100 cup coffee machine, which made his long sleeve fall and bunch at his elbow, showing off a few delicate veins. His dark hair was mostly hidden by his black puffy hat. That hat would look funny on anyone else, but Izzy rocked it, he seemed like he could truly pull off any look.

In the middle of his gawking and pondering, Duff didn’t notice the incoming projectile directed at his head. It made contact, bouncing harmlessly off his noggin, and hit the ground without a sound. 

Jumping at the sudden object hitting him in the back of the head, craning his head to get a look at what the fuck just got thrown at him.

A napkin?

Looking in the direction of where it came, he saw Slash and Steven, watching from nearby counters, with shit eating grins on their stupid faces. Stevie even had the audacity to make a fucking kissy face at Duff. 

Why must his friends make him suffer like this?

He only had time to mouth, ‘Go back to work, you fucking fucks.’ Before he heard steps coming back to the counter.

Turning back around, Duff tried not to seem too annoyed, it wasn't Izzy’s fault his friends were the biggest assholes. Luckily it seemed like Izzy didn’t notice the little interaction.

Placing the the bagged box onto the front counter, he slid it towards Stradlin and quickly rung him up on the old as fuck cash register.

“That’ll be 4.50.” 

While Izzy slipped a hand into his back pocket, getting the necessary change, Duff waited patiently, gently playing with his own fingers, looking at the dried dough beneath his fingernails, trying his best to not stare too much at the other man. He didn’t need to seem like a complete weirdo.

The correct money was promptly deposited into Duff's held out hand. Putting the money away and handing the regular his receipt was a cakewalk (heh).

With all the business out of way, Duff leaned on the front counter, lazily sliding closed the display case backing he’d forgotten to put away in the hurry of getting Izzy his order.

“ How’ve you been, Izzy? Week going well?” It was a weak conversation starter, but usually customers were out the door by now, but Izzy liked to stick around for a few minutes to chat with him. Why? Duff didn’t really know why, and really, if Izzy wanted to talk with him, fine by him, it really made his week less mundane. At some point if all you did was bake and sweep, Duff was positive you’d go insane.

Taking a quick look away from Izzy’s pretty hazel eyes, Duff kept it in the back of his mind that the hanging clock on the wall read 4:54pm, only a couple more hours of work. Thank Christ.

“ Been fine, the music shops been so fucking slow all week,” A quick drink from his coffee cup, Izzy watched someone pass behind Duff, and gave a little greeting, “Hey, Popcorn.”

A chipper “ Hey, Izzy!” as Steven walked by, probably carrying the bread dough to the warmer part of the shop to rise for a while.

Turning his attention back to Duff, Izzy tilted his head, questioning.

“ How about you, anything interesting happening?” Duff pursed his lips at the question.

Did anything really happen to him this week? Besides some failed searching for a singer, something Izzy probably wouldn’t find interesting, nothing really happened for Duff.

Resting his head on his hand, Duff placed his elbow and honestly shrugged.

“ Well, there was this batshit crazy lady who wanted a 10 layer cake. Slash had to break it to her that, One, it would be a very structurally unstable cake, it would be really hard to travel anywhere with, and Two, we’re not a fancy, professional cake business.” 

Izzy had a tiny smile on his face, amusement in his eyes. Duff had to look away for a moment to fidget with a nearby sign sitting on a display case, presenting a deal, written in Stevens awful handwriting. 

“ I assume she got mad and asked for the manager?” A raised eyebrow.

“ All her types do. She wasn’t happy to see a bleach blond, punk looking motherfucker behind the counter telling her, that yes, I am the manager when the owner isn’t here,” Duff could feel a headache slowly coming to his temples at the thought of the whole stupid situation.

Izzy twisted around the couple rings on his fingers, looking sympathetic to Duff's plight.

“Yeah. I get where you're coming from. Some of the idiots that come by the music shop act like they invented instruments or something,” Izzy scoffed, “ But most of them can’t tell a bass from an electric guitar.” The unimpressed look on Izzy’s face made Duff smile fondly.

“ Definitely don’t envy you.” Tapping on the top of his coffee lid, Izzy gave Duff a sardonic little grin.

“ So, switching jobs is out of question.” Rolling his eyes, Duff huffed out a laugh.

“ I think so, man.” 

“ Fair enough.” 

The conversation slowly petered out, though not awkwardly. With Izzy, and every chat Duff had with him, he didn’t mind quiet moments with no speaking. Duff appreciated that about the other man.

Izzy, weirdly enough, got an odd, almost pensive look on his face. The mood shifted, Duff stopped leaning against the counter and stood up straight. 

It looked almost like he made up his mind about something, Duff's mind whispered at him.

Izzy placed the coffee firmly onto the counter.

“ Duff… I just. I want to ask you something.” he licked his lips, which Duff locked onto immediately.

“ Yea?” The other took a deep breath, set his shoulders, and looked Duff squarely in the eyes, the humor of their jobs gone. Something important was about to be asked, and Duff held his breath.

“ I was wondering if you-”

“Excuse me!” 

All at once, the mood broke, Duff could almost see it break on the ground around them. 

Both Izzy and he jumped at the unfamiliar voice crashing into the conversation. Duff let the bated breath escape.

Leaning to look around Izzy, Duff saw the customer, a flabby middle aged lady with a sour look on her puffy face -or was just her regular look?- standing behind Izzy. How long had she been waiting here??

“ Oh sorry ma'am! How may I help you?” His voice didn’t sound very steady, most likely because the lady just scared the living hell out of him. What was up with some people?

Izzy quickly gathered his sweets and coffee and waited to the side while the woman did her thing. Duff was informed she was here for her teal cupcakes, and she’d been waiting for a least a minute behind Izzy.

After the woman was dealt in a well paced fashion, wrapped box firmly in her pudgy fingers, the customer waddled off to the entrance, taking her leave, nose high in the air.

Rubbing his aching temples, the womans’ annoying voice did no kindness on Duffs’ ears as she scolded him for being a lazy worker. Lots of ‘Well I Never!’ and ‘Youth these days!’

“What a fucking…” He couldn’t get the word out, he was so done. He was almost yanking on his own hair from exasperation.

Turning to Izzy, Duff knew he had a look of annoyance plastered on his face.

“ Well. That was something.” Even in the frustrating times, Izzy’s dry humor could lift his spirits.

“Never a dull moment in this bakery.” Only thing to do was shrug it off and move on.

“Indeed.” Izzy sipped on his coffee and rocked on his heels. And Duff remembered.

“Oh shit, what was it you wanted to ask me, Izz?” Resting back on the counter, Duff waited. They could pick up where they left off, certainly wasn’t the first time some rude customer interrupted their weekly chat.

And just like that, Duff watched the confident energy of Izzy get yanked away. Loose shoulders stiffened up, and that easy, thoughtful gaze was replaced with, with what Duff realized later, was mild panic.

“Hmm, uh… I forgot. Sorry.” And that was weird as hell, Izzy was never one for long sentences, but these choppy, awkward words were concerning as all hell. Izzy was always cool and level headed. 

But Duff let it go. Izzy and he couldn’t get into it in the middle of Duff's shift. And was it really any of Duff's business to ask? Izzy would tell him when he felt like it.

“Ok… Just lemme know when you remember.” Duff smiled kindly, brushing away the weirdness. And just like that, the tension and fear was dropped out of Izzys frame like it was cut out of him. 

“Sure.” Izzy smiled back at him, and everything was the way that it was supposed to be.

**Author's Note:**

> An old work from 2018. beta'd by a friend, necro. We haven't spoken in ages but i think fondly of him when i think about this fic. I'm happy he helped me out.


End file.
